Recently, as the interest in good health is increasingly high, a various kinds of rice as the chief food is introduced and put on the market. In case of the germinated brown rice obtained by removing hulls of rice kernels, the boiled brown rice becomes not soft, thereby making users feel uncomfortable to eat. Thus, the present applicant originally proposed a domestic rice germination apparatus which has been registered as Korean Patent No. 675405 wherein the apparatus hulls the brown rice until the rice germs are left, and then germinates the rice germs so as to allow the boiled rice to be soft and taste good.
The conventional rice germination apparatus generally includes a germination container for storing rice to be germinated therein, a water tank for storing circulating water to be supplied to the germination container therein, a water pipe for feeding the circulating water filled in the water tank to the germination container, and a power unit for allowing the circulating water to be circulated while being supplied to the water tank through the water pipe.
In this case, the water tank includes an upper water tank adapted to supply moisture directly to the germination container and a lower water tank disposed under the upper water tank for storing the circulating water supplied to the upper water tank again.
Further, the power unit includes a motor adapted to provide a power source allowing the circulating water to be supplied to the upper water tank and an impeller rotatably coupled to the motor so as to supply the circulating water upwardly. The water pipe is coupled to the upper portion of the impeller so as to feed the water sucked by the rotary force of the impeller to the upper water tank. In this case, the motor disposed on the outside of the underside of the lower water tank, the impeller disposed on the inner bottom surface of the lower water tank and having a rotary shaft rotated by the power of the motor, and an impeller cap adapted to cover the top portion of the impeller, are generally configured to be a single unitary body. That is, the impeller is coupled to the motor, and the motor body and the impeller cap are screw-coupled to each other in a rigid manner.
As a result, the water stored in the lower water tank is continuously circulated to supply moisture for the purpose of the rice germination, but since the water is circulated in the limited water tank, scales are accumulated on the water pipe and the vane portion of the impeller after the long term use. Furthermore, pollutants or residues generated during the decay or oxidization of the nutrients adhered to the outer surface of the brown rice causes the inside of the water pipe and the impeller vanes to be contaminated. In other words, according to the conventional domestic rice germination apparatus, a plurality of multi-layered cases are disassembled to each other so as to clean the inside of the water tank, the inside of the germination container, and the outside of the water pipe. However, the water pipe and the impeller coupled rigidly to each other for gentle water circulation cannot be easily washed, such that it is hard to provide sanitary conditions for the rice germination.
According to the conventional domestic rice germination apparatus, furthermore, the impeller and the motor are disposed on the inside and the outside of the lower water tank so as to provide the power for circulating water, and the linear type water pipe is disposed vertically on the impeller and the motor, such that they are problematically contaminated easily by the foreign substances of the outer shell of the rice generated during the rice germination. In other words, the foreign substances generated from the rice are sucked together with water and supplied upwardly over the impeller vanes, such that the rotation of the impeller becomes weak. If the foreign substances are large in size, they fall down due to their own weight and gravity and are adhered to the impeller vanes, thereby causing the impeller to be contaminated.
Especially, according to the conventional rice germination apparatus, the lower water tank continuously storing the circulating water typically has a through-hole formed on the bottom surface thereof for coupling to the power unit, but the circulating water stored in the lower water tank problematically leaks through the through-hole formed on the bottom surface of the lower water tank.
In order to prevent the leakage of the circulating water from the lower water tank, a rubber packing member is used to block the through-hole formed on the bottom surface of the lower water tank, but in this case, it is difficult to separate the impeller, the motor and the impeller cap that are coupled rigidly to each other so as to prevent the circulating water from leaking through the through-hole of the lower water tank, which makes it hard to wash the lower water tank, the impeller vanes, the impeller cap, and the inside of the water pipe. Thus, the foreign substances generated from the rice and the scales are accumulated on the rubber packing member continuously contacting with the circulating water and the through-hole formed on the bottom surface of the lower water tank, thereby causing the circulating water to be polluted in the lower water tank.
Additionally, the water pipe just depends upon only the rotary force of the impeller, and since it sucks the circulating water stored in the lower water tank and feeds it to the upper water tank, it needs a lot of power, thereby making the circulation efficiency of the circulating water undesirably decreased.